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Child ‘sexting’ sentence will not be reduced

A MAN who was jailed after a mum found sexually explicit text messages on her young daughter’s phone, has failed to convince judges his sentence was too harsh.

Matthew Meyer, now 20, was imprisoned for 12 months at Oxford Crown Court in December after he admitted attempting to incite a child into sexual activity.

Meyer, of Orchard Way, Wantage, singled out his 11-year-old victim by chance, London’s Appeal Court heard on Tuesday, sending her texts in which he said “hi’’ and asked “whether she was nude’’.

Mr Justice Wyn Williams said Meyer was foiled when the girl showed the texts to her mother.

Meyer – who was 19 at the time – continued to send “sexually explicit’’ texts for nearly two weeks at the end of which the mother “broke contact’’.

Meyer’s case reached London’s Appeal Court as his lawyers challenged his sentence with claims that it was excessive. His legal team pointed out that he was “lonely’’ and had “mild learning difficulties’’. His crime could have been dealt with through a suspended sentence, it was urged.

But Mr Justice Wyn Williams dismissed the appeal. He said the crown court judge was “fully entitled to impose the sentence he did’’. There was, he added, no “compelling’’ reason why Meyer’s sentence should be cut.